2020 has been a good year for United for in their last nine league games they have won 7, drawn 1 and lost only one since the turn of the year. They headed to Annitsford Welfare in confident move to take on one of the championship hopefuls AFC New Fordley despite losing to them by the only goal of the game at the beginning of December.

Ever present regular teenage goalkeeper, James Anderson, was unfortunately injured with arm ligament damage. New signing Cameron Armstrong was brought in for his debut. Centre back Stephen Little was also out injured with John Pendlebury making a rare appearance.

The match started, like many others recently in very blustery conditions on a bobbly pitch. Pendlebury was in the action early on and gave away a free kick to the left hand side of the penalty area. The kick was firmly struck for the bottom corner but Armstrong reacted well pushing it out for a corner which came to nothing.

Pont’s Rawlinson playing in an advanced position did well down the left with the wind in his face and his cross was cleared but only out to Gallagher who shot over the bar. Fordley had another free kick and Alex Patterson’s delivery into the goal area was headed wide. Armstrong then gave confidence to his defence diving to tip a fierce drive one handed over the bar. On 10 minutes Pont were guilty of not marking the two tallest players on the pitch. A corner from the right was floated high to the far post where it was met by an unmarked Liam Hudson who headed it back across goal to unmarked central defender Chris Jewels to powerfully head home. No doubt a trade mark goal for the hosts.

Pont then had a couple of good chances as they looked to get back into the game. Gallagher did well down the right before crossing into the box for Calvert who couldn’t quite connect. Cook suffered the same fate moments later. Full back Turnbull played a neat ball down the line to Rawlinson who made a great run before delivering a cross into the path of the supporting Cook but he his outstretched foot sent the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Once again Pont were guilty of needlessly putting pressure on themselves giving away a few free kicks to wet the appetites of the two big men who went forward at every opportunity for the set pieces. Fordley surprisingly elected not to involve them with Patterson blasting a free kick from 35 yards high and wide and then Dan Lowther decided to do the same after receiving a short free kick some 40 yards from goal. A foul by Short resulted in another free kick but this time Patterson’s kick was intercepted by Pont who broke quickly into a 4 v 2 situation in their favour. Unfortunately when the pass was delivered Rawlinson had advanced into an offside position and the opportunity was lost. With the clock ticking towards half time and with Pont kicking against the wind one would expect they would have been relatively happy to go in one down at the interval.. However a misplaced pass by Kirkup landed at the feet of Dan Lowther. He advanced down the left towards the penalty area with still a lot to do but he stroked the ball across the goal into the far corner to put his team into the driving seat.

Pont made a change at half time bringing on Ethan Bewley for the injured Rawlinson. However it was Fordley who took the ascendency from another free kick given away by Pont. Once again they couldn’t deal with the lofted ball towards the far post and Jewels managed to score his second goal in the match from a tight angle.

The goal was a devastating blow for Pont and perhaps understandably the mindset changed having conceded two quick goals before and after halftime. With 30 minutes remaining they engineered a lifeline. Kirkup played a good cross field ball over the full back’s head and into the path of Havelock-Brown. The captain took it in his stride and slid the ball past keeper Liam Dodds.

However the goal didn’t produce any real change and in fact the opposite occurred with the home team taking full control of the game. With 15 minutes remaining substitute Scott Pocklington finished off a good move to earn a convincing win for the hosts and keep their title challenge intact. As for Pont the good run of results came to an end and they must pick themselves up for next week when they visit league leaders Newcastle Blue Star. The Star along with other title contenders, Blyth Town, New Fordley and last seasons champions AFC Killingworth are only half way through the league programme, have only lost one game each and with little between the four teams an exciting second half of the season is in prospect.